This invention relates to a ball cock construction of the type for controlling the level of liquids, such as water, in tanks and the like. More particularly, the ball cock of the present invention is formed with a uniquely vertically adjustable outlet tube which may be selectively vertically adjusted to tanks of varying depth, thereby adapting a single size of ball cock to a multiplicity of tank sizes. Furthermore, although the principles of the present invention are illustrated herein incorporated in embodiments of a side inlet ball cock for mounting on a tank sidewall, such principles may be relatively easily adapted to tank bottom wall mounted ball cocks, all well within the purview of those skilled in the art.
Various prior forms of float controlled ball cocks have heretofore been provided for the primary purpose of automatically controlling the flow into and the level of liquids within various types of liquid storage tanks. Probably the major use of such ball cocks is in toilet water storage tanks wherein the supply water is received into the tank through a wall thereof by the inlet tube of the ball cock, passes through a float controlled valve and vertically downwardly through a ball cock outlet tube ultimately emptying into the inner confines of the tank through an inlet tube lower end. A float properly connected to the ball cock valve, raised and lowered by the tank water level, controls the opening and closing of the ball cock valve to thereby determine and maintain the desired water level within the tank. A separate and selectively operable outlet valve of the tank is operated to exhaust the water from the tank and through the toilet for flushing with the ball cock admitting a further supply of water into the tank for refilling and maintaining the level of water therein ready for the next selective flushing action.
One of the major difficulties with the existing prior ball cock constructions prior to that of the present invention has been that these prior ball cock constructions have been formed of an average or standard predetermined height so as to be functional only in storage tanks of relatively standardized configuration. Certain of these prior ball cocks have included provisions for float adjustment in order to provide water level control adjustment within preset, rather narrow limits, that is, with the floats directly connected to and controlling the ball cock valves, linkage adjustments have been provided between the floats and valves so that the ultimate controlled closing of the valves can be slightly varied to thereby slightly vary the level of water maintained within the tanks. Time has proven, however, that this slight water level control variance by the prior ball cocks has not been sufficient to adapt a standard ball cock height to the increasingly wide variety of tank configurations within which such ball cocks are required to be used. This has resulted in the necessity of manufacturing a series of models of ball cocks, each model having a different vertical height so as to be adaptable to a particular tank contour. With even increasing variance requirements of modern tank designs and particularly in the home plumbing field, such being coupled with fast rising manufacturing and material costs, the problems involved with multiple ball cock models adaptable to varying vertical heights has become quite prohibitive and has created an unwanted necessity of greatly limiting possible variations in tank design.
There has been one known prior ball cock construction which has been formed to permit selective vertical adjustment thereof, that is, selective vertical adjustment of the overall height thereof in order to adapt the same for widely varying water level requirements occasioned by differences in storage tank configuration. In this case, the ball cock construction has been of the tank bottom wall mounted type and has consisted of spaced, side by side inlet and outlet tubes, each formed with end telescoped, upper and lower tube parts vertically slideably sealed by resilient O-rings between the two parts. As a result, the major problem with this prior form of ball cock has been the ease with which the adjusted height thereof can be accidentally changed. With frictional forces being virtually the sole deterrent to ball cock vertical height changing movement, slight vertical forces and even possibly internal water pressure can easily change the vertical height thereof to a lesser or greater level and thereby change the maintainment of water level in the tank to an unworkable level.